Russian election protests – Saturday 10 December 2011

• Largest political event of its kind since the fall of the USSR
• An estimated 50,000 people gathered in Moscow and 10,000 in St Petersburg
• They allege widespread fraud in Sunday's polls
• More than 1,000 arrests
• Protestors pledge to take to the streets again on December 24
• They want Sunday's election results annuled

4.14pm:Less than 100 demonstrators were reported arrested across Russia, AP reports. This contrasts with the hundreds taken into custody at smaller protests in the first days after disputed election.

Police, who normally crack down fast and hard on any unauthorised gathering, even allowed a few hundred leftist radicals to conduct an unsanctioned protest on Moscow's Revolution Square just outside the Red Square.

The Interfax news agency reports that no one was arrested during the Moscow protest.

A Ministry of the Interior spokesman said: "The event passed without incident and no one was detained."

3.58pm: Mark Townsend has just sent through his dispatch about today's protest in London.

In London, more than 200 protesters are gathered outside parliament to vent their disquiet over the disputed polls.Supporters sporting white ribbons have assembled in Westminster to chant "re-election, re-election". Some have travelled from as far away as Manchester, Bristol and Norwich. Most believe that the demonstrations in Moscow and across Russia herald the onset of change, a transfer of power from the political elite to the people.Student Marina Issaeva, 22, from Moscow, said: "I've never protested in mylife, it's good to see so many young people also here."Something has started moving, it's unprecedented. We must make sure momentum is not lost."Alexey Kovalev, 30, london-based editor of Snob, said the "excellent" turnout in central London was fuelled by fury.'People are very angry. Look around, people want change.' As he spoke, more small groups joined the demonstration, including a group of Ukranians. Many of those gathered are waving placards, some carrying a portrait of Putin emblazoned with the accusation: "They stole our vote."Others stated simply: "Fair vote for Russia."Teaching assistant Dmitri Ponomaev, 30, said: "We are saying enough is enough." Anastasia Vladimirova, 21, in London on a tourist trip from the Russian capital, added: "I hope we can change the system, something has to give but the politicians are very powerful."

3.38pm: There was a folk carnival atmosphere to the end of the rally at Bolotnaya Square, writes Alexei Belovs.

People are drinking champagne from the bottle, beating the drums, dancing, Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.

When asked why men are drinking champagne, as it is not a manly drink, they told the Russian tabloid "because the mood is appropriate, and it's more fun than New Year. Most surprising - nobody was arrested!"

3.31pm: The protest in Ulyanovsk, the birthplace of Lenin, went ahead without the organisers, Alexei Belovs writes.

Konstantin Troshin (Drugaya Rossiya party) was attacked by a man. Slava Yemelyanov (Yabloko party) was arrested and brought to the head of the city's department of internal affairs. Oleg Loskutov was called into work under threat of being sacked. Despite this 500 people gathered at the city's Lenin Square.

3.23pm: A senior official from the United Russia party has told demonstrators to not to turn into "cannon fodder" and abide the law, writes Alexei Belovs.

2.01pm: The number of protesters at Pioneer Square in St Petersburg has now reached 10,000 according to organisers.

1.52pm: Russian dissident Boris Berezovsky has been talking to Sky News. He says the numbers protesting are very significant – previous protests have seen fewer than 5,000 on the streets.

1.31pm: Opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the organisers of today's Moscow rally, has announced there will be another protest on December 24, which he says will be twice as large.

1.26pm: My colleague Luke Harding is at the London demo in support of the Russian protests, which he says is the biggest ever protest against Putin held in the UK.

This is the biggest ever anti-Putin demo in Britain. These protests usually attract 15-20 people. There are 200-300 people here today. Everyone is saying that they think things are changing [with Russian politics].

There are some amusing banners – "Putin cheats at maths" and "Bastards – they stole my vote".

Russians in London protesting the election. Photograph: Alexey Kovalev

Alexey Kovalev, one of the organisers of the protest, says:

Nobody would have thought a month ago that we'd have this many people. There's a million people on the streets of Russia. It's a phenomenal turnout. The people are fed up with having their votes stolen. I do hope the Russian government comes to their senses.

12.59pm: My colleague Miriam Elder says all the protesters say they will continue demonstrating until their are fresh and fair elections.

She estimates there around 50,000 people at Bolotnaya Square. Hundreds of people are leaving but hundreds more are still arriving. She is walking over the bridge opposite the Kremlin, which is lined with hundreds of police.

The crowd is chanting, "We will come again". Nationalists have burned United Russia's flag.

The overall atmosphere is cheerful despite the snowfall, adds Alexei Belovs. Protesters are handing flowers to police. Some of the slogans on the banners include: "I did not vote for these bastards. I voted for other ones", "Do not hit me – I am here by an accident", "Send Putin to Azkaban"

12.31pm: Russian state television channel NTV has described the rally on Bolotnaya Square as "grandiose", writes Alexei Belovs.

The rally is the main item on its official website. NTV has also reports that one of its journalists, Alexei Pivovarov, refusing to host a news programme if teh channel did not cover the rally.

Here's a video from the square.

12.17pm: AP has filed a report on the Moscow protest, reporting there are between 25,000 and 40,000 people gathered at Bolotnaya Square.

"The falsifications that authorities are doing today have turned the country into a big theater, with clowns like in a circus," said Alexander Trofimov, one of the early arrivals for the protest at Bolotnaya Square.

"I don't think any citizen of the country can say he is very happy with anything. We don't have an independent judiciary, there is no freedom of expression all this combined creates a situation where people are forced to protest," said demonstrator Albert Yusupov, who was dressed in civilian clothes but identified himself as a member of the Russian army.

By the time the rally started, the square and adjacent streets were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with protesters braving intermittent wind-blown snow. Police said there were at least 25,000, while protest organisers claimed 40,000.

Public figures like detective writer Boris Akunin and journalists Leonid Parfenov and Oleg Kashin are getting more cheers from the crowd than opposition parties representatives, says Alexei Belovs, who is monitoring live feeds of the protest. Parfenov criticized the media and described current television broadcasting as "obscenity with badminton".

11.38am: My colleague Miriam Elder who is in Bolotnaya Square has just called to say the crowd is now so huge that it is overspilling onto the bridges that lead onto the island.

The crowd is so huge. I've never seen anything like it in Moscow. The entire square is filled. On one of the bridges leading to the island someone has hung a banner that says "Crooks and thieves return the elections" [ – a reference to Putin's United Russia party].

People are shouting "Freedom", and "Clean elections". It's mostly a young, middle class crowd, though there are a few hardcore nationalists.

Among those to address the crowd is Boris Akunin, a renowned Russian novelist, who is proposing fresh elections with a live video feed from every polling station to prevent fraud.

10.47am: The #10dec tag on Twitter is being flooded with provocative and misleading messages, writes Alexei Belovs.

Among the false messages being put out are "I have seen people with syringes, be careful everyone!" and "If you wear a white ribbon you support gay self-murderers".

Alexei is monitoring the Russian media for us today. You can contact him on Twitter @purpl_oranj or email him at alexei.belovs@guardian.co.uk.

10.37am: The protesters marching from Revolution Square to Bolotnaya Square, chanting "Putin is a thief" and "Jail Churov" – referring to Vladimir Churov, the chairman of the Central Election Commission of Russia.

10.01am: Protests have already taken place in cities in Siberia and the far east of Russia.

In Vladivostok, where Putin's party was beaten by the communists, police looked on about 1,000 protesters called for the election to be annulled and detained activists freed, Reuters reports. Here's a video of the protest and a link to another video of a protester addressing the rally.

A rally was held at a port where some of Russia's Pacific Fleet warships are docked, AP reports. Protesters shouted "Putin's a louse" and some held a banner caricaturing United Russia's emblem, reading "The rats must go." Police stayed on the fringes of the demonstration and made no arrests.

The Interfax news agency reported that an unsanctioned flash-mob protest in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk was broken up by police, who arrested about half the 60 participants. Some of the protesters had their mouths sealed with tape.

Our Moscow bureau has sent through more information on the number of protesters in the regions.

Around 4,000 people gathered in Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city and the largest city in Siberia.

Elsewhere in Siberia about 1,000 people attended a rally in Barnaul, around 700 gathered in Krasnoyarsk, 200 gathered in Chita and about the same number protested in Ulan-Ude.

9.30am: Good morning and welcome to our coverage of today's mass protests against the disputed Russian parliamentary elections. This is David Batty – you can follow me on Twitter @David_Batty.

Tens of thousands of Russians are expected to rally in Moscow in the biggest show of opposition yet to Vladimir Putin's strongman rule since he came to power 12 years ago. More than 35,000 demonstrators indicated via Facebook that they planned to join the protest in Bolotnaya (Swamp) Square, on a large island in the Moskva River. More than 50,000 police and 2,000 interior troops, backed by water cannon, helicopters and reinforced arrest lorries, have been deployed in the city.

Protests are planned for more than 80 Russian cities, in what is likely to prove the largest public show of discontent in the post-Soviet age. In St Petersburg 12,000 have indicated their intention to take part via VKontakte, a Russian social networking site.

Protests attracting between several hundred to more than 1,000 people have already taken place in cities in Siberia and the Far East. A demonstration is also planned in central London.

The opposition are demanding the annulment of the parliamentary elections on December 4, which were marred by fraud, and the holding of new elections.

Opposition groups have been bolstered by the sense that the elections showed Putin and his United Russia party to be vulnerable. The party held an overwhelming two-thirds of the seats in the previous parliament, but its share plunged by around 20% in the recent vote. Protesters say that even its reduced performance was inflated by ballot-box rigging.